[JazzCatDRP]

Hey all,
I'm getting ready to finally upgrade my ancient 333 G3 Powerbook to a Mac Mini. (Not a huge investment for most, but I'm a totally broke student.) I have a few questions regarding the Mini

1) Is the middle range model really worth $100 more than the base model? I wouldn't use the Airport Extreme at all, and I don't have any immediate use for Bluetooth. I'm unsure about whether I'd need the extra 40 gig of HD space. I've been living with 20 gig and an external drive for music for a while, and that's been okay. Is the slight jump in processor speed worth the hundred?

2) I've heard a lot about the mini's dim video problem. Is that still the case with the latest batch of minis? It'll be running on a 21" Acer display with VGA only. Is the dim video likely to cause a noticeable problem?

3) Is doing some iMovie stuff on the Mini going to be a lost cause? I make slide show movies for weddings, etc, etc on my Windows box, and would love to fiddle with iMovie for that. I really can't afford to get the top of the line model with the DVD burner, so my plan was to make movies on the Mini, transfer it to my PC and burn it from there. Can the Mini handle light video work like that?

For reference, I use my computer mainly for web surfing and email, but usually have 3-4 apps open at a time. I do a decent amount of Photoshop work. I figure if my Lombard can handle that, the mini should be fine for me, right?

[G5man]

well for the work you want to do in photoshop you may want a used PowerMac G4 MDD model or a G5 PowerMac because photoshop will lag on mini it is not meant to run multiple apps if I were you I would get a dual processor system maybe a G5

[JazzCatDRP]

Unfortunately, the mini is the only thing in my price range at the moment. I figure that if my 333 Lombard can handle Photoshop (albeit slowly), the Mini should at least be a tad better, right? I'm really not expecting all-star performance from a mini on Photoshop, just serviceable performance.

[Randman]

Get at least 1GB of ram. Max it for any video stuff. Don't buy for what you need now, buy for what you need 6 months to a year from now. Extra space is nice.

[JazzCatDRP]

Thanks for the advice. I'll get aftermarket RAM to knock it to 1 gig. Any advice on whether the middle range model is worth the extra hundred considering I wouldn't need Airport Express or Bluetooth?

[ajprice]

Always get more than you need now, if you want your Mac mini to last you as long as you have had the PB G3 (5 years or so if you had that from new), get the best you can, you might not have a need for airport or bluetooth now, but who knows what you will have later on.

Whichever model you go for, get the RAM first, but don't get it from Apple when you but the mini because its expensive, buy a 1Gb stick separately and sell the 512Mb if money is so much of a concern. Oh and if you are a student remember you can get the educational discount, for a bit more off the price.

[iREZ]

yes...to me $100 for apx, bt, and more hd space is a no brainer. but you said you werent going to use apx or bt and you have an external hd...so maybe the low end model is good for you seein how you could use that $100 u save towards 1gb of ram and i hear that the 40gb drives are the 5400RPM drives.

[JazzCatDRP]

That's interesting...is there any way to confirm that the 40 gig is the only one that has the 5400 drive?

[G5man]

no the 80 GB is 5400 RPM if you need better HD then get fastmac upgrade you can get 60GB 7200RPM

[scoot]

It's definitely worth the extra 100. Airport & Bluetooth, if you decide to get them later, will run ~200 - they can't be added except by a service provider. THey won't sell the kit separately (IT's BT, an AP Ex card, and internal antennas).
The HD would also cost at least 100 to upgrade later, minus the $20 or so you might get for the original 40G HD.

Make sure you decide before you order whether you need a dialup modem - the Mac Mini doesn't ship w/ one by default. It's an extra $29.

[Macpilot]

The revised $499 mini DOES have a 56k modem built in. The $599 and $699 models do not, but can be ordered with one.

I think all the minis represent a good value, it just depends on your needs.

The speed difference between CPUs on the different models should be negligible, so it comes down to wireless, hard disk, and Superdrive.

[JazzCatDRP]

Okay, so I've been checking around on the Apple site, and discovered that with my education discount I can get a 1.6 17" refurb iMac for $800. Here's the specs:

Apple Certified Refurbished iMac G5
- 17-inch widescreen LCD
- 1.6GHz PowerPC G5
- 512K L2 cache
- 533MHz frontside bus
- 256MB DDR400 SDRAM
- NVIDIA GeForce4 MX
- 32MB DDR video memory
- 40GB Serial ATA hard drive
- No Optical Drive

First off, I've heard all the horror stories of the capacitors in the iMacs...would this model be affected? Second, does anyone know if this model supports dual monitors? Thirdly, just out of curiousity, does this graphic card support Core Image? Lastly, it says that since it's refurbed it'll ship with the original OS. Does anyone know if this is pre-Tiger?

[stwain2003]

Originally Posted by JazzCatDRP

Okay, so I've been checking around on the Apple site, and discovered that with my education discount I can get a 1.6 17" refurb iMac for $800. Here's the specs:

Apple Certified Refurbished iMac G5
- 17-inch widescreen LCD
- 1.6GHz PowerPC G5
- 512K L2 cache
- 533MHz frontside bus
- 256MB DDR400 SDRAM
- NVIDIA GeForce4 MX
- 64[MB DDR video memory
- 40GB Serial ATA hard drive
- No Optical Drive

First off, I've heard all the horror stories of the capacitors in the iMacs...would this model be affected? Second, does anyone know if this model supports dual monitors? Thirdly, just out of curiousity, does this graphic card support Core Image? Lastly, it says that since it's refurbed it'll ship with the original OS. Does anyone know if this is pre-Tiger?

Yes yes and yes. Dont buy an iMac with no CDrom. youll regret it when you try and install anything

[JazzCatDRP]

Whoops...somehow I totally missed that. Thanks stwain. So does anyone know if I'd be absolutely hopeless trying to do iMovie stuff on the mid-range model. The extent of my video stuff would be photo slideshows w/ background music about 20 min. in length. I'm not concerned with lightning fast speed or quick rendering.

[stwain2003]

the mac mini will be fine

[JazzCatDRP]

Thanks for all the advice folks. One final question: how noticeable will this whole dim video problem be on a 21" Acer LCD?

[irockdabari]

Originally Posted by stwain2003

the mac mini will be fine

i just noticed stwain2003's sig....

you don't bury the survivors!

looks like the mac mini would be the best deal for you, especially since they were just updated. you can also find a cool thing for mac mini that is like an external HD and usb/FW hub that sits under the mini, to match it. i found it at Compusa in the store... try looking there

[mhuie]

Originally Posted by JazzCatDRP

Thanks for all the advice folks. One final question: how noticeable will this whole dim video problem be on a 21" Acer LCD?

I don't know about the dim video issue, but I would recommend against getting the Mini if you are running @ 1600x1200 on your LCD. The 32mb of VRAM just isn't enough and the UI will lag.

[iREZ]

its plenty dont listen to mhuie...i run my 20" dell off of my 12" powerbook which only has 32mb of vram and it works fine. also its the 40gb drives that have the 5400 drives with 2mb of cache while the 80gb are 4200 with 8mb of cache. if you dont have an lcd or keyboard or mouse or speakers already...i would definitely look for a refurbished iMac from Apple. itll cost the same and be tons better in the long run...and you could connect another monitor to the iMac and run dual displays with a lil program roaming the net. either or...you'll be fine, long as you pop in 1gb of ram in the mini of your choice.

[JazzCatDRP]

I only run at 1280 x 1024 resolution.

Regarding the hard drive speeds and cache...I admit I know jack squat about hard drives. Which drive would have better performance (the size doesn't really matter, as I use my external for most storage.) I understand the faster hard drive speed will access files and such faster, but what exactly does the cache speed mean for me?

[walkerjs]

I run a 21" Trinitron CRT at 1600x1200 with my Mac Mini and there is no lag or other problem at all.

Photoshop runs just fine.